Member postings for Mike Hurley

Welcome Mark. Once the staring at the new lathe phase is over (we all do that with new toys) do you have any ideas what sort of things you're looking to do with it? Interested in any particular field or just looking to get general machining experience, There are chaps on here that are more than willing to help whatever the route.

Enjoy

All the best. Mike

Thanks SoD for the warnings, I shall definately take them on board and probably avoid this experiment all together!

Redsetter - had comsidered this but its about 70Kg and quite an arkward shape to heave around. It's currently on a simple stand so that I can work on it, one plan is to eventually make a HD wheeled truck so I can move it easily if I want to take it any Steam rallies etc ( if and when they happen again)

Anyway, thanks for the input both. Take care

Mike

Thanks for the suggestions guys - all very useful info.

I had overlooked that it is in fact double acting, so needed to figure that in my volumes! I think I now have some indication of the sort of values I need to work with, and useful methods on determining necessary pressures / air volumes that may be involved.

Bazyle's idea of oil barrels and water is quite interesting and may well be something worth examining just out of interest, particulary after having had a quick look at the daily cost of hiring compressors of the sort of sizes suggested in the thread! However, after the time and effort (and not inconsiderate cost in materials and tooling) involved in the restoration over the last 3 years, I might just have to grin and bare it.

It's primarily a case of determining that its basically sound and operational before investing more time and effort in this project.

As usual, thanks again to all for taking your precious time to read and respond. All the best. Mike

Thanks Howard, I'm not expecting miracles from compressed air, just a basic 'does it go round at all' ? and no major leaks, rattles, bangs and bits dropping off etc. Speed wouldn't be much of an issue at this stage.

I know there is a big difference between c/air and steam in engines like this, but at present it's just one step at a time. I just don't want to go to the trouble of getting a source that will be too underpowering and then not know if its an issue with the engine.

Mike

With any luck, hopefully in a short while I will be in position to test my refurbishment of the 3 x 5 Victorian workshop steam engine ( as detailed in the Work in progress forum ). To that end I'll initially run on compressed air just to check basic functionality ( or lack thereof! ).
My question to the assembled experts is 'how much' ? I shall need to hire, beg steal or borrow a suitable compressor or source but have no idea what capacity would be needed, having zero experience with such matters. I did a search on the forum but the few results were related to quite small models and I'm not sure if the info would scale up.
The 2 cylinders are 3" bore and about 5" long with a sweep length of 4" giving a volume of 46.6 cu in in total. They have a 90 degreee angular rotation difference. Would I be correct to assume a straightforward multiplication of total cylinder volume x theoretical target RPM would give me the required CFM? Sounds far too straightforward to be honest though.
But pressure at that capacity? - I have no idea what sort of figures we are talking about. Also need to factor in the fact that everything should be a bit tight at first.
Any pointers most gratefully received.
Regards Mike

Not Bolton Paul Defiants Duncan, as you said they had a rear facing turret but a slender nose profile like Spits & Hurricanes. The ones in the film had large radiator cowls at the front, much like the later Hawker Typhoon. Saying that, the ones in the film appeared to have elogated cockpits behind the pilot - for a second crew member ? As far as I'm aware the Typhoons only ever had as single 'teardrop' canopy.

Film was only on for a few seconds so couldn't be sure - I think its repeated sometime - I'll try and catch it and have a better look if no one can come up with an answer

Some airecraft buffs on the forum - someone must be able to help identify them. Intrigued to know the answer!

Mike

I'm going to state the obvious here, but as a newbie you might not have considered safety too much.

I'm not a H&S nut, and often despair with some of the ridiculous rules and regs that defy common sense, but beginners really need to consider the possibilities of injury even when using relatively small low-powered machinery. I'm sure there will be postings on this site relating to sensible do's and dont's so have a search, or / and get a good book.

Machining brass for example - someone mentioned earlier about being showered with tiny chips - yes it often does, and they can be very sharp, if they get in an eye they can be a nightmare to get rid of at hospital. Safety glasses may not always be adequate - a full face visor may be prudent. (3 guesses who's speaking from experience!)

Don't want to put people off, but a timely reminder is sometimes sensible.

Saw the prog last night - a fun idea.

Without me saying a word, the wife glanced across and said 'forget it! '

One of the things I like about this channel is the old B&W films which have normally have a plot, a beginning, middle and end. Yes, some are corny and you normally know who's done the bad deed from the start but you don't have to think about it too much and be over-stimulated with grossly unbelievable CGI as in many modern films.

I must be honest and admit they also show some real 'turkeys' at times!

Yes those are the guys. Many thanks for the info I shall go ahead and try to order again. msu have just been a blip.

You just have to be so careful these days the scammers are so smart.

Anyway, thanks again. Take care

Looking at this company's website - all seems very proper - 'worldwide export specialists' good reviews and verified secure padlock at the top of the page etc. but noticed it had quite a few spelling errors in parts of the text, however just put this down to rushed work, so went through the ordering process and got to the point of paying with Paypal and it errored 'certificate expired'.

Am I being paranoid (one of the indicators of cloned websites is said to be spelling / grammar errors)? Has anyone used them in the past and found them pukka?

They appear to be based near Dundee.

regards

Don't we all have those days! On friday drove 2 miles to local garden centre which had some good offers on bedding plants. Saved about £20 on what we would normally spend - happy bunny. Came out to put same in car noticed flat tyre! Long story short, tyre u/s ended up with final bill of £120. unhappy bunny.

As Nick says, people have a right to like what they want. To me, its quite awful, but then so is a lot of stuff on programs like Salvage Hunters and similar which I wouldn't give house room to with their 'original patination' (i.e rust). But hey - I'm not buying it , and he seems to make a good living from it AND I suppose he is truly recycling things that would often end up in the tip, so credit where its due.

Perhaps someone could re-purpose a Bridgeport as a candle holder?

we probably watch this channel more than the other main ones! If you're an oldie try to catch its Saturday mornings when they do a session like the old childrens Sat morning matinees - including serials - currently running ' Radar men from the moon ' (11.30 am) , so unbelivably bad Sci-Fi it can't fail to raise a few laughs.

Highly recommended

Nicely done novelty project!

regards

Have any academics looked into the affect all these huge wind turbines across the planet have on the climate? ( I know studies have looked at issues with effects on migrating birds) What I'm droning on about is a sort of the 'butterfly effect' - each one causing a minute change in air flow and cumulatively 'adjust' winds that may affect climate subtley? perhaps just one tiny piece in the climate change jigsaw?

As the famous Captain Kirk used to frequently scream ' More power Scotty! ' to which the reply was ' She won't take it captain! ' , perhaps using less might be the only real answer in the end.

I think I need to get a life.

regards

Edited By Mike Hurley on 18/05/2021 13:26:38

Was just about to start re-assembling everything when I noticed there was a couple of parts I hadn't sorted. There is a capped tube next to exhaust outlet on the each steam chest which I believe to be a manual oiler point (did raise a thread on the forum to see if anyone had any other ideas, but nothing conclusive in the end).

There was only one of these and it was pretty bent and knackered, so a 2nd needed to be made anyway. Back when I first disassembled everything I measured the original and determined it to be 1/8" BSP (28 tpi), I had some Taps & die so went ahead and started to make one only to find that it didn't fit the casting. After some head scratching I re-measured the OD of the pipe at 0.383" which according to the Zeus data book was correct for 1/8" BSP. As a last resort got the thread gauge out and yes it wasn't standard 28tpi but 26tpi!
As I could still use the taps and dies I had for the top end of the pipes & cap, the end that screwed into the casting will have to be cut on the lathe. (I know Tracy tools stock 26tpi Whitform T & Ds but seemed unnecessary cost for one off's) anyway, will be an interesting exercise to lathe cut such fine shallow threads.

Cylinder manual oilers - as mentioned earlier, decided on making replacement manual cylinder oilers in brass. These actually proved quite a challenge having no design to hand, just working from the model photo (as shown in earlier posting). The initial drawing ended up being modified 'on-the-fly' many times as is often the case with bespoke parts, but worked out OK in the end. One of the challenges was to turn an enclosed 'ball' section in the middle of the unit (this being the part of the body where the tapered valve shaft fits. Unsure of the best approach, so I raised a thread on the website and following several useful suggestions I made a form tool which worked well.

A useful exercise that included lathe threading, 'ball' turning as noted earlier, milling a hex section for tightening the unit into the cylinder, cutting a tapered valve assembly etc

.

I also realised that where the original oilers had been broken off the cylinders, part of the boss they would locate onto was uneven. Fortunately, neither had resulted in cracks in the cylinder casting, just a ragged surface which would make it impossible to seal the new oilers properly onto the cylinders and be steam-tight.

After much deliberation, it was decided to build the bosses up with steel-reinforced epoxy. After on or two attempts this was done. The cylinders were lashed to the mill table with a 1/2" BSW threaded bar in the holes to ensure they were at true verticals, removed these then skimmed the tops to achieve a flat, correctly aligned surface. Worked quite well.

Once the new oilers were completed it was time to start re-building! It was decided to age most of the brass a little, as it was felt (rightly or wrongly) that very bright brass fittings would be out of place on what was originally a working engine as opposed to an exhibition piece.
The previously made wooden lagging segments and brass banding were fitted (some adjustment needed here and there as you might expect). The valve chest oiler tubes and cylinder oilers were fitted and much to my surprise everything fitted and nothing got in the way of anything else - amazing!

The baseplate assembly , flywheel & pulley had all been cleaned up and re-painted during the winter. These were back to the original colours (though they do look a bit brighter than reality in the pictures) as far as I could tell from the grubby bits of remnant found under the rust.

So the next phase is to start re-assembling everything (for a second time). Will post again when further on, hopefully by then all back together and even possibly ready for a compressed air test (if I can organise any!)

If you log in as a user, the ad will have contact details. Pete's are low down on the add, location & email.

Welcome Russell. What are your interests? Loads of people on here with a vast range of experience between them and always happy to help in any way,

all the best. Mike

Just cannot understand why the genius chemists of the massive paint industry seem totally unable to come up with a water based paint that's any good. I've always hated the smell of white spirit and use 'quick drying' stuff inside the house but am always disappointed with the finish no matter how carefully I put it on. Although I approve of the idea to remove the high VOC spirits in the atmosphere.

What about using an airbrush? Might take ages but you can be precise and not contaminate the rest of the house. Just a thought.

regards